Feds: Landlord Rented Section 8 Apartment To Father-In-Law

The seal of the U.S. Department of Justice.

A landlord has reached a settlement with the federal government after the U.S. Department of Justice said he claimed illegal housing subsidies.

On Thursday, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Jennifer Arbittier Williams said landlord Mikhail Geneles agreed to pay $90,000 to settle False Claims Act allegations that he illegally claimed subsidies from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development while renting a Bucks County apartment to his father-in-law through the Housing Choice Voucher Program, which is commonly known as Section 8. Renting to a family member through in violation of the department’s requirements.

Geneles claimed subsidies from the federal government for his father-in-law’s rent from May 2010 to May 2020, federal authorities said.

“In the agreement, the United States alleges that Geneles participated as a landlord in the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP), a program whereby HUD provides rental subsidies for eligible low-income tenants who locate acceptable rental units on the private market. The government alleges that Geneles submitted documents to the Bucks County Housing Authority (which administers the HCVP in Bucks County) falsely certifying that the assisted tenant in Geneles’ rental property was not an immediate relative of the property’s owners. In fact, the sole tenant was Geneles’ father-in-law, which precluded Geneles’ receipt of HCVP rental subsidies,” officials said.

The settlement agreement contains “allegations only; there has been no determination of liability,” officials said.

“HUD instituted the HCVP program to help low-income residents without other options to obtain decent housing,” said Williams. “By investigating this case, we put all landlords participating in the Section 8 program on notice that they cannot put relatives in apartments for which they are receiving HCVP funds. From the time that this matter was brought to his attention, Mr. Geneles committed himself to setting things right. We appreciate his cooperative approach and efforts toward rectifying the problem.”

The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General and by the Bucks County Housing Authority.